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My independent puppy has bad habits. How can I train him positively?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Male | neutered | 4 months old

What is the best way to train an independent puppy? He likes treats alot. I'm doing positive training but how do I stop bad behavior?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Debi Matlack

Veterinary Technician

Published on December 5th, 2016

(more) Then, when he startles and turns to look at you or looks around, remove your hand. Either ignore him for 10 to 20 seconds or, if he starts mouthing on you again, get up and move away for 10 to 20 seconds. After the short time-out, return to your puppy and encourage him to play with you again. It’s important to teach him that gentle play continues, but painful play stops. Play with your puppy until he bites hard again. When he does, repeat the sequence above. When your puppy isn’t delivering really hard bites anymore, you can tighten up your rules a little. Require your puppy to be even gentler. Yelp and stop play in response to moderately hard bites. Persist with this process of yelping and then ignoring your puppy or giving him a time-out for his hardest bites. As those disappear, do the same for his next-hardest bites, and so on, until your puppy can play with your hands very gently, controlling the force of his mouthing so that you feel little or no pressure at all.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Debi Matlack

    Veterinary Technician

    Published on

    Clicker training is an effective way of training you dog to not only come when called, but can be used to teach a variety of tricks and tasks. Have treats on hand that you know he loves, then simply click and treat. He will come to associate the sound with getting a treat. Start putting distance between you so he has to come to you. Call and click and when he comes to you for that treat, treat him and give him lots of praise. Move to hiding somewhere in the house, call and click. When he comes to you reliably inside when you call, click and treat. When this behavior is consistent, move outdoors with a very long leash. Call and click, if he doesn't respond, give a light tug on the leash. If he takes even a single step toward you, click, treat and lots of praise. Keep doing this until he comes eagerly. Next, try him off-leash in a securely fenced area. Call and click. At this point he should be responding well and coming easily to the call and click. If he does not, go back to the last step he performed reliably and work on that again until he responds well. Eventually, you can start not treating him every time, but still praise him. Gradually lessen the frequency of the treats until he comes just to the click and praise. Keep training sessions short, ten or fifteen minutes to start, no more than 30 minutes at a time and do it a few times a day. Try not to do it any time she is overly excited so that she can pay attention to you. Always end a training session on a good note, even if it is just getting him to do something she already does well on command. And never, NEVER punish a dog when they come to you, no matter how far they've made you chase them, no matter how frustrated and angry you might be. That teaches your dog that coming to you is a bad thing. Now, if he's chewing or gnawing, this requires a different tactic. First of all, if you don't want it chewed, put it away or keep the dog confined away from it so that they cannot gain access. Next, find a way to alleviate that boredom. Tired dogs are happy dogs. They need to run, play, be mentally and physically challenged. Take them on long walks, to the dog park, play fetch until they're won out. Teach them obedience, tricks, get them involved in dog agility, flyball or other stimulating activity. Treat puzzle balls are a great way to occupy their minds and give them something to chew on. Give them toys they *are* allowed to chew on, and make sure they are easily distinguishable from household items, i.e. don't let them play with a sock and then punish them when they chew up a sock. Spend time with them, teaching them what they can and cannot chew up. If you catch him with something forbidden in his mouth, offer a toy in exchange. This is a good opportunity to teach the command 'give' or 'drop it'. A product called Bitter Apple http://bit.ly/1ticNj9 can be sprayed on item to make them taste very bitter. Some dogs are stubborn and will persist in chewing, even though the taste, so watch them the first time you try this. The spay needs to be refreshed periodically. And, don't chase your dog to try and get an item back. This is play to him and you're only rewarding him for his bad behavior. Playing too rough and chewing too hard may also be something you're experiencing. When you play with your puppy, let him mouth on your hands. Continue play until he bites especially hard. When he does, immediately give a high-pitched yelp, as if you’re hurt, and let your hand go limp. This should startle your puppy and cause him to stop mouthing you. (If yelping seems to have no effect, you can say “Too bad!” or “You blew it!” in a stern voice instead.) Praise your puppy for stopping. Resume whatever you were doing before. If your puppy bites you hard again, yelp again. Repeat these steps no more than three times within a 15-minute period. If you find that yelping alone doesn’t work, you can switch to a time-out procedure. When your puppy delivers a hard bite, yelp loudly.

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